


Things We Do

by Kendalina



Category: CSI: Miami
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-17
Updated: 2013-09-17
Packaged: 2017-12-26 21:48:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/970649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kendalina/pseuds/Kendalina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wolfe does something stupid.  H is far to honorable.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Stupidest Thing

**Author's Note:**

> Originally and currently posted else where under the penname Terabithia
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own them... pity. Not making any money either. So please don't sue me.
> 
> Spoilers/Warnings: Well I mention a certain someone is dead and gone but I think we all know that now. Other then that there's little m/m kiss if you don't like that what ARE you doing here?
> 
> Minimally edited reader beware.

In retrospect it was probably the stupidest thing he'd even done. Ryan didn't have a clue what he'd been thinking. Actually he hadn't been thinking it had been the tequila. The damn tequila of which he'd obviously had way too much.

They'd wrapped up a horrific case that day. By far the worst in the short time he'd been part of the team. They'd all worked on it bit by bit until they figured it out. He couldn't decide if he'd just had the bad luck to get the trickiest evidence that took the longest or if he just really wasn't good enough. Twice when people had come to ask him for his results and he'd had to say he wasn't finished he'd caught "That Look" on their face. He'd seen it enough to have named it. It was the look people got when they were comparing him with his predecessor. Comparing him and finding him lacking. He'd come to realize very early on that he would never be able to fill Tim Speedle's shoes. It wouldn't matter if he were the perfect CSI. Speed was a Saint. Saint Speed. who evidently could do anything in no time at all.

He'd dropped his head into his hands. He'd known he shouldn't think that way, it wasn't Speed's fault that everyone remembered him that way and there was no reason they shouldn't. The man was a hero after all. Fallen in the line of duty. But on a day when Ryan just knew he wasn't making the grade in most people's eyes he couldn't help but resent Tim Speedle. He'd scrubbed his face a few times with his hands before he just sat there with his face buried in his hands. He didn't know how much later that the locker room door had opened.

It was Horatio who'd found him. His boss efficiently gathered up the young man and his things and took him out of the PD and to a small quiet bar. H ordered the drinks and let him drink. When he'd had enough to relax, enough to be a little buzzed, and a lot more ready to listen, the other man started talking. In that slow calm voice. Telling him first that it had been an awful case and he'd done a good job. Then continuing saying he didn't want Ryan to replace Tim Speedle. That he wanted him to make his own place. The Ghost of Speed would always be there, but he shouldn't try to compete with it. You just can't compete with memories.

He'd nodded, kept drinking what was put in front of him and eventually began to talk about his worries and his fears. Not just about living up to Speed's illustrious memory. But about actually not being good enough. For the job, the team. All of it. The other man's only reassurance to his was that if he wasn't good enough he wouldn't still have his job.

Eventually when he was good and drunk Horatio dragged him home. Cajoled him into drinking several glasses of water to ease the hangover that was sure to follow ingesting this much alcohol, then told him to go to bed.

Ryan had felt himself nod, leaning on the other man a little more then was strictly necessary, looking at his boss up close. Then without a thought he leaned in close, pressing their lips together.

It wasn't much of a kiss. He hadn't really thought much beyond the first motion. But then Horatio had kissed him back. Their lips moving together, finally parting and the older man's tongue slipping in to his mouth for a briefest second. Then he stilled and withdrew. He was pushed back to arms length. Horatio looked at him for a long moment then turned him around and gave him a gentle shove towards his bedroom. "Go to bed Ryan. Sleep it off." He paused. "If you still want to do that once you're sober. Then we'll talk."


	2. The Honorable Thing

Wolfe was in the locker room. He'd been there for a while; Horatio had been aware of it and keeping track of how long. Now he'd decided it had been too long, and it was time to go check on his newest team member. He'd seen the stress building up in the young man for a while now. He'd kept an eye on it ready to step in if it seemed to get beyond what Ryan could handle. And today it seemed to have done just that.

In the locker room he found Ryan with his head in his hands. It seemed he'd been right to worry. It was time to help the new criminalist work this out. But the PD was hardly the place to do it; and in his current state of mind Horatio doubted Wolfe would be interested in talking or listening.

With efficient movements he gathered up Ryan and his belongings and lead him out of the PD. He took him to a comfortable little bar he knew and started a tab. H subtly urged a few drinks into the younger man. Then, when he seemed to have calmed a bit Horatio started talking. He already knew much of Wolfe's stress stemmed from the timing of his arrival in the team. It had been too soon after they lost Tim. Even Horatio himself would have rather waited longer to fill the position, but there just hadn't been a choice. But now he knew it had been the right choice. He didn't say any of those things to Ryan. He told him instead that no one expected him to fill Tim's shoes. A little comparison was unfortunately unavoidable. But that he shouldn't let it get to him, instead he should work at making his own place on the team. Because no one would ever be able to replace Speedle. Not the very best CSI in the world simply because that person still wouldn't be Speed. There was simply no way to compete with a memory. They didn't want or need another Speed; they needed Ryan Wolfe working to the best of his abilities.

After all that and a few more rounds of tequila. Ryan finally started talking, telling him all his fears and worries. H just kept up with his comforting. With the truth. Until some of it seemed to sink in. Horatio could only hope the young man wasn't too drunk to remember it.

Hours later he helped a stumbling and considerably more cheerful Ryan Wolfe into his apartment. Leaving him on the couch to go in search of water for the other man in the hopes of easing the hangover that was sure to find Ryan when he woke up tomorrow. Finding a tall glass and filling it with cold water he returned to the man now sprawled on the couch. Getting him upright he managed to get a few glasses of water into him. Next he dragged the young man to his feet and told him to go to bed. The couch was too short for him to possibly sleep comfortably on it. Ryan stared at him for a moment as though he hadn't heard a thing Horatio had said. Then suddenly he closed the distance between them with an awkward kiss. Barely a kiss really, just their mouths pressed together.

Horatio froze for a second. He knew he should pull away, he really should. But he'd been watching the young man since his arrival on the team. Not just keeping track of his stress level but admiring as well. But as the good supervisor he'd filed Ryan under the heading 'look but don't touch' and left it at that. But now here he was right there, their lips touching. His famous control faltered and he allowed himself to deepen the kiss. Ryan's mouth was soft and willing and opened for him in moments. And he got his first taste of Ryan Wolfe. Sweet and tangy and mixed with tequila. The last taste brought back his control. As much as he might want this, Ryan was drunk. He drew back slowly; he meant to move faster he just couldn't seem to make himself.

"Go to bed Ryan. Sleep it off. If you still want to do that once you're sober. Then we'll talk." With that he turned the young man around and gave him a gentle shove towards the open bedroom door. Then turned and walked out the door. He heard the door click shut behind him, turned to be sure the door had locked. Then all but fled. He'd done the right thing. What his honor demanded. Yet there was a little voice in head demanding he turn right around go back to Ryan's apartment to finish that kiss properly.


End file.
